Interesting links

Current www.fpo content

Header

Body

A links that says "What's new in Fedora 13? Read the release notes. >>". This one also links to the release notes, but the "real" ones.

A small piece of text with a description of what Fedora is: Linux-based OS, latest in FOSS software, free to use/modify/spread, anyone is welcome to join, basically the regular "what is Fedora?" intro text. Link below it says "Learn more. >>" and links to Overview.

...to let visitors select their language (if you don't speak English, it's good to have it in a prominent position)

...to display a search bar, if that's needed

Sidebar

I'm not entirely sure if we even *need* a sidebar? It's kind of old-fashioned and makes the page look wiki-like instead of a nice product presentation, imho. Also, instead of collecting all the links here we could spread them throughout the page and place them in relevant sections. Like in the mock-ups, maybe a very small navigation area at the top would be nice, since we have just a few links that NEED to be prominent (i.e., get.fpo, join.fpo, etc).

There's multiple links that don't even need to be here. For instance, "Home" could be left out completely, since we're already there. And "Get Fedora" is the third link to get.fpo (you can already get there through the small banner or the "Download Now!" button.

The links under "Tools" all have to do with the community. Except for "Docs" (the documentation), they are about the Wiki, the community Planet, Communication with the community (although this could also be seen as Help) and Events for the community.

Create a seperate section for community links? Somewhere where Fedora contributors can find their stuff?

What's with the hosting sponsor? Is this still valid? (I have no idea :) )

The banner at the top is kind of double... We already have a huge banner, so why place another one here? It's the third link that goes to get.fpo.

Body

Personally, I always like website designs that have the courage to place their product in full view, no holding back or covering it in marketing-speak. Therefore I really like the big banner. If we could place something like this (or even bigger?) in the middle of the page, featuring the latest release, I think it'd look great and show that we are confident and proud of our software. It would show the visitors immediately what this website is about and what it is.

mizmo's mock-ups have a slideshow, which a lot of websites use. This could work and we could fill the first slide with a big FXX picture for the latest release, and use the rest to show additional features or big events. It could definitely be made very sleek and sexy.

All the links need ordering... Currently there are three links to get.fpo, one to the release notes, one to the one-page release notes and one to the Overview. We should make it clear which links go where.

The text below the banner is pretty good IMHO, just the regular "what's Fedora?" blurb. Explain what is it, what it does and who makes it. Also notes that anyone can join. Maybe we could make this more prominent, though? Place it near or on the banner, or make it a little bigger... The "Learn more" link below it is definitely good, links to Overview, which is exactly what you would expect if you wanted more information about the Fedora Project.

I love the big download button. Straight to the point!

Could this be made even more direct, linking straight to the default ISO? (Don't know if this is okay technically/legally/infrastructurally :) ) If it does so, it should probably say something else to signify that it goes straight to the file, and also show that there are plenty of other options (mirrors/torrents, other versions, 32/64 bit, languages, spins, etc...).

The body page is also quite empty. On one hand, clean and simple designs can work, but there's so much more to tell about the Fedora Project (which resulted in the links in the sidebar). So on the other hand, we could make it *the* hub for all things Fedora. Sure, you can just download it. But you could also show additional features (WHY should you choose Fedora?), show what's going on in the community, show that (and how!) you can join us, show more information about why open source is awesome, etc etc. Right now it's sort of half-way between these two options (not that that is necessarily something bad).

Footer

IMHO, the new footer design looks awesome! For what's essentially a bland collection of links, it looks professional yet beautiful. Is obviously there, but still doesn't attract everyone's attention, which I think is a good thing.